Análisis y visualización del discurso en la obra crimen y castigo de F.M. Dostoievski

Abstract

This research aims to understand what happens in the reader's mind while reading F.M. Dostoevsky's works. To that end, I have tried to identify the strategies used by the author to polarize the statements, scenes and other text events so that the reader (any reader) matches Dostoevsky's expectations as much as they can. Focused on the problem of the creation of meaning, in the negotiation of meaning that takes place during reading, I have directed my efforts to analysing discourse in Dostoevsky's work. This has been developed from a research method that enabled me to combine paradigms proposed by Linguistics (textual, pragmatic, cognitive, etc.), Literary Theory, Data Visualization Analysis and Dostoievskian criticism. The study examines the Problem of the Author in Dostoevsky's work. A model of comprehension was proposed for the literary work as a meaningful whole based on text deformations. To that end, I will distinguish between intention and intentionality, the ideal reader and the recipient, polyvalence and ambiguity, and intentionality and text reception. This study analyses the units of meaning in the novel, the mechanisms that provide cohesion and coherence. Special attention will be paid to the fictionalization of the model world and its textualization through fixed or recurring strategies; the construction, function and functioning of the characters as a network of interwoven ideas, the author-text-reader triad's marks, the typical linguistic devices used to express the author's voice, and the existence-in-the-text of discursive strategies to invoke and evoke mental spaces in the reader. These strategies aim to propose and ascertain that extremely modalized texts can be disambiguated, i.e. to steer the reader towards an intended univocal interpretation. Applications and tools from the Digital Humanities support the proposed approach to texts from the relational perspective. The research structure derives from the layout of objectives in an attempt to clarify the understanding of the method applied and the outcome obtained. The thesis has been divided in eight chapters: The first chapter discusses the problems associated with discourse analysis in Dostoevsky's works and a general view of the existing literature on the topic. After reviewing the different paradigms of interpretation to be found and valuing to some extent which are efficient when focusing on analysing the discursive phenomena, I will lead into the concept of text deformation. The second chapter analyses the relationships between author and characters from the perspective of the reader's affect, meaning the perspective of how the text is received and how the author considers certain reader's reactions, trying to make his message prevail. This chapter deals with the understanding of reception and of those shapes the text adopts to produce the meaning and promote, prioritize or refute certain ideas. The third chapter comprehends a detailed study of Dostoevsky's discourse specifics. In order to prove the hypothesis true, it takes into consideration a wide spectrum of phenomena or singularities (linguistic, symbolic, etc.) of the textualization of the author's worldview. After describing the specifics, the fourth chapter focuses on Crime and Punishment with the intent of defining its place within Dostoevsky's work, and marks the main differences between the novel and author's work as a whole. The fifth chapter covers the Data Visualization Analysis as a method of studying discourse, in this case Dostoevsky's discourse. This chapter determines whether research hypotheses are valid and also points us in the direction of new analysis paths. This chapter particularly refers to the study of lexical repertoires of the different text events and to the discursive relationships between characters. The sixth chapter shows the conclusions, both general and methodological. It will also include a brief proposal for improvement and a reflection upon the possible research perspectives. Bibliographical references are detailed in the seventh chapter. Finally, the eighth chapter presents a summary and the general and methodological conclusions in English.